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7 Everyday Changes to Save Water

This is the first part of the ongoing series: Ecofriendly for Every Element

Not every action needs to be big in order to be meaningful. Every step you take to help the Earth spin a little more peacefully is a meaningful step. I’ve given you some tips before about alternative places to donate your clothing and the beginner’s guide to ethical fashion. If you’ve read those handy posts before, you’re ready for more steps.

When you save water, you help save the world, and a pretty penny in your pocket. For my first part of my new series, here are 10 easy ecofriendly changes to conserve water everyday. Earth, our oceans, and all of it’s inhabitants thank you for the effort.

Are there any useful tips I missed? I wanna hear from you, comment below.

1. When you’re brushing your teeth, stop letting your tap run.Next time you’re brushing your teeth, turn that tap off. If you need to rinse your brush, fill up your cup first and dump the water onto your brush (alternatively, you can dip your brush in a filled cup…but then you have to rinse your cup off anyways?). There’s no reason you must let that tap run, it’s litres of water you’re not using anyways while you’re staring at the mirror, focusing on your teeth.

2. Take shorter showers.As great as your shower concerts are, maybe for your next shower skip the encore? According to National Geographic, a 10 min shower take about 20 gallons (80 liters) of water (and that’s assuming your shower head is low-flow.) Cutting a minute or two off of every shower can add up if you think of how much you conserve after a week of trying this!
If you want to go the extra mile, there’s a shower head that alerts you when your shower uses an excessive amount of water.

A 10 min shower take about 20 gallons (80 liters) of water.

3. Prioritize water use in the shower.
If you won’t sacrifice your precious shower time for tip #2, then this tip is for you. Wash your body with your soap/body wash first, so when you’re shampooing your head, the water flowing from the shower head isn’t going to waste. You’re all soaped up and scrubbed down anyways, you can get a passive rinse while you’re saving time. Your multitasking saves water, money, and time!
Alternatively, you can turn your shower off when you’re shampooing your hair. If the water isn’t being used to wash something, it’s a waste.

4. Wash your laundry in cold water.This tip will save you a load on your next water bill, but also good for the environment. Plus your closet will thank you for it! You can keep your black garments dark when you wash them in cold water. If you think your laundry isn’t as clean as being washed cold as opposed to hot, research shows it is equally clean!

5. Use frozen grapes instead of ice cubes.
TBH this is more of a fun food tip as opposed to a full eco-tip, but it’s worth sharing! Next summer when you have guests over for a dinner party, keep their drinks cool with frozen grapes instead of ice cubes. Frozen grapes keep drinks cool without watering down the taste of that amazing margarita you made.
Plus filling up the tray with water every time you use a cube is a lot of water flow, think of every time you spill that tray or the excess that drains. Yikes! Grapes, blueberries, or other solid berries can save you the trouble.

6. Wash your produce in a basin.Ok, this is like tip #1, letting your tap run is a no-no, especially in the kitchen. Why do you need to keep your tap running when you’re washing off your morning apple? It remains equally as clean as if you washed your produce in a basin or large bowl. Unless your produce is fresh from your urban garden or local farms and you really need the extra power to wash off dirt and bugs, scrubbing your veggies in a basin will be suffice.

7. Water your plants with your basin water.Watering your succulent collection or urban gardening produce doesn’t have to be excessively wasteful. Collect water you used in tip #6 to water your plants. The water washed off bits you don’t want to eat for your fruit, but the same water is good enough to feed your plants. This goes without saying, but this does not apply if you’re washing any meat products (don’t do that to your plants, they love you).

If you want more tips and colorful graphics are your dig, check out Save Our Water‘s fun tips.